Review: ‘Age of Love’

Tennis pro Mark Philippoussis might have a better chance returning a 110 mph serve against Roger Federer than successfully navigating between cougars and kittens in this latest, but certainly not last, reality skein on finding the perfect mate.

Tennis pro Mark Philippoussis might have a better chance returning a 110 mph serve against Roger Federer than successfully navigating between cougars and kittens in this latest, but certainly not last, reality skein on finding the perfect mate. The Peacock is looking to muscle in on ABC’s “Bachelor” franchise and in “Age of Love,” producers have found ladies willing to scale buildings to land a hunky, and very rich, athlete.

Premise is that Australian party boy Philippoussis, 30, has had a hard time finding a woman he’d consider settling down with, and he’s in-vestigating all options for finding the perfect match. He has 13 women to choose from — six women in their 20s and seven in their 40s — and he needs to figure out who suits him best.

Premiere episode focuses mostly on the older, and certainly more refined, ladies. They’re all successful in the business world, extremely attractive and seem to have it all going for them, except, of course, a man with whom to share it all. Women’s advocacy groups will have a field day with the theory here that success means nothing unless you’ve got a handsome guy to come home to at night.

Though he plays it cool, when Philippoussis meets this group he becomes a bit unhinged. It’s a completely overwrought reaction, consider-ing these women aren’t exactly checking into a retirement home quite yet and have plenty of life to live. And after their initial introduction — name, where they live, how old they are — he quickly realizes the age difference might not be as big of a deal as first realized.

But just as he’s getting to know them, it’s time to narrow the field, and what better way to do that than to take three of them on a date and learn about what makes them tick. Rather than wine and roses, their bonding activity is rappelling down a building in downtown L.A. The show’s premise, at this point, goes from ridiculous to laughable.

Episode two, presumably, will concentrate on the younger femmes, many of whom are shown mocking their decades-older competitors. It’s a catfight, indeed, the one with the sharpest claws having a distinct advantage.